Android comes to your TV
The Nexus Player is Google’s new set-top box for playing online video on your TV. It’s the first device to run Android TV – a version of the popular mobile operating system designed to be used on your telly. While the Nexus Player is the first of its kind, it won’t be the last – Sony’s upcoming 2015 range of smart TVs, for example, will use Android TV.
The Nexus Player is a plain black device made by Asus, who made the Nexus 7 tablet (now discontinued), and is the shape and size of an ice-hockey puck. It’s very easy to set up. Connect it to your TV using an HDMI cable (not included) and then follow the straightforward instructions to connect it to your wireless network and enter your Google account details. You have to use Wi-Fi because it has no Ethernet port.
The Nexus Player isn’t Google’s first video-streaming device for the home. It comes in the wake of the now defunct Google TV set-top boxes, which were made by various third-party manufacturers. Its interface was essentially a poorly designed web browser controlled using a fiddly mini keyboard and touchpad. There is also, of course, the more popular and better Chromecast, which is still available as a cheaper alternative to the Nexus Player.
Interface and controls
Unlike those devices, the Nexus Player is more like other streaming set-top boxes such as the Apple TV and Roku 3. The home screen consists of three horizontally scrolling rows of icons. The first row features videos and music you’ve recently played as well as suggestions based on this content. The second row displays your apps. You’ll not be surprised to learn that the apps for Google’s own streaming video and music services are pre-installed. The third row provides access to the settings.
Everything is controlled using the Bluetooth remote control (included), which works well enough, although its sharp edges make it feel cheap. The only problem we encountered was when we pressed play/pause on the remote while using a video app and it controlled music playback instead. Although you can use the remote to type search keywords using the on-screen keyboard, this is a laborious process and it’s far easier to use your voice instead. Much like the Amazon Fire TV, when you’re on the home screen press and hold the mic button on the remote then speak into the microphone built into the remote.
The accuracy of the speech recognition depends on the quality of your internet connection because it uses Google’s servers, but we found it generally excellent. It’s also pretty smart – saying ‘Chinatown’ or ‘Roman Polanski film noir’ will get the same, correct results. You’ll see options for renting or buying the film as well as information about the film and its director and stars, all from the web, shown as a series of cards.
What you can watch
You’ll get the most out of the Nexus Player if you’ve already bought tracks from Google’s music store, subscribe to Google’s Spotify-like music subscription service (Google Play Music All Access) or if you’ve already bought or rented TV shows and films from Google’s video store. As the Nexus Player is linked to your Google account, all purchased media, playlists and unviewed rentals will show up automatically in the relevant app.
The Nexus Player is far less useful if you don’t use Google’s media stores often – or at all. While you can download other video and music apps from the Android TV-specific version of the Google Play store, the choice is currently very limited. There’s Netflix and Sky News, but none of the terrestrial TV catch-up services, such as BBC iPlayer, and no other video-subscription services are available. You can play your own video files, as long as they’re stored on a networked computer or NAS, using apps such as Plex.
There is a workaround – the Nexus Player can also be used like a Chromecast. In other words, you can use the iPlayer app on your iOS or Android device to play BBC programmes on the Nexus Player. As with a standalone Chromecast you’re not streaming video from your mobile device to the Nexus Player. Instead the app on your device acts as a remote, while the Player does all the hard work. This is no more than a stop-gap solution though because the range of Chromecast-compatible apps is only slightly wider than the app selection for Android TV.
Another limitation is that when you use voice search on the home screen you’ll only see results from Google’s services. But you can at least use voice search within individual apps, so you’re not stuck with the onscreen keyboard.
All apps, whether Google or not, use the same basic interface – a panel on the left-hand side shows menus and navigation options (such as categories), while the right-hand side shows you the music or video titles you’re browsing. You can set a password to access the Nexus Player or set age-related parental controls to prevent children from watching anything you don’t want them to see. Oddly though, you can’t customise the order of the apps as they appear on the homescreen.
Conclusion
The Nexus Player is by no means a bad streaming set-top box. It’s very easy to use, especially if you use voice search, but unless you’re heavily invested in Google’s video and music services then it currently falls behind all of its major competitors in its selection of available content. Android TV has a lot of potential, but for now there are few compelling reasons to buy one.
VERDICT
Easy to use, but you have to use Google’s video and music services and stores to get the most out of it.
SPECIFICATIONS
1.8GHz Intel Atom quad-core processor • 1x HDMI • 802.11ac/a/b/g/n • 235g • 120x120x20mm (HxWxD)